Bleach: The Fate of Our Future
by TheUnseenProphet
Summary: As the war between Aizen and Soul Society reaches to a climax. A lone soul reaper trys to look into the future and discovers a disturbing revelation that changes not only his life, but the lives of everyone else, forever.
1. The Book Cover

The Fan Fiction Cover

Copy and Paste this Link

Theunseenprophet. deviantart. com/art/Bleach-The-Fate-of-Our-Future-177129330

Also please note that I just finished the cover just recently and I misplaced it for the first chapter, so all the reviews were intentionally made for the second chapter.

Beyond that, please enjoy and subscribe! :)


	2. Prologue: Who am I You ask?

**BLEACH: The Fate of Our Future**

Before my story begins, there are certain things you need to know.

One, I am a soul reaper, Saidō Eikichirō is my name, and my job is simple; to exterminate hollows which constantly threatens humanity unseen.

Two, as a soul reaper, I have supernatural powers which allow me to do things your average human can't.

Three, I belong to the Stealth Force, one the many sections in Soul Society which deals silent judgment to evil in both realms of reality.

And Four, I'm a funny guy, however the story I'm about to tell you is not a joke and you'll probably understand why in the end.

What really caused this incident to happen is predetermined, but it deals with the terrifying war between Soul Society and Aizen with his massive army of Arrancars. I was busy at the time, sleepi-err I mean patrolling the streets when suddenly I had a vision that a young girl was going to be devoured by four hollows.

I instantly woke up and fled to the scene, luckily I arrived in the nick of time to save her.

Stranger or not, it was my duty to protect her as if she was my only sister, its not I'm soft and cuddly, its just I had many friends and family taken away by hollows.

In fact, it was the main reason why I joined in the first place.

So there I was, toe-to-toe against four hollows, which were roughly the size of school buses. For most of the soul reapers who were inexperienced and painfully weak, this would be a critical situation. However, unknown to the Thirteen Court Squads, I had the strength and experience of a lieutenant or possibly higher.

Using my knowledge in the way of combat, I easily dismembered one of the hollow's arms off while the others backed off. The main hollow screamed in pain and used its last arm to finish me off, I quickly reacted by dodging the blow and finished it off by cleaving off its head. The hollows that were left suddenly fled from my presence.

I stood there in shock, never was there an occasion when many hollows gathered together and flee without trying to devour a soul reaper, no matter what class that soul reaper is. All of the sudden some of their heads literally exploded in front of me.

It was then I realized what they were running away from and how they died, Aizen and his personal elite force, the Espada, arrived.

* * *

Please note that this is my first fan fiction and I hope you enjoyed it! This may seem boring, but trust me! It gets better than this!  
Please subscribe and review!  
It would make my day!

* * *

One last thing! Be sure to use BleachWiki for it will be your friend!  
I'll try to summarize it the best I can, but it will definetly help!


	3. Chapter 1: Time to be a Hero

**Chapter 1**

I had hope for victory, but now against these odds, I began to have doubts. I assured the girl that she was safe, but I didn't specify for how long. Voices in my head called out to me, but it wasn't because I was crazy. It was my zanpakutō, Jikan. You see, this is where my visions came from. I never told anyone about him and its abilities, because it would have made me an outcast.

Think about it: if I had mastered Jikan, I would've seen Aizen's betrayal or the invasion of the Bounts before the events even happened. In truth, I've only discovered my zanpakutō's name and its ability just recently; before that, I always thought I was psychic or something. I still haven't mastered Jikan yet.

"_What are you doing Saidō! Having inner monologues again! Get away from that barrier!"_

"Why Jikan? Do you see something?"

"_There is a battle now taking place between the Captains of Soul Society and Aizen and his Espada. Its painfully obvious that you might die just by standing here."_

Not taking chances, I ran away from the barrier, carrying the girl with me. It is not that I was running away from the battle, I was just coming up with a plan while jogging to get exercise.

I'm very glad that the girl was a whole, otherwise, if anyone had seen me, they might think I'm a pedophile. Regardless. I did what was right, while my zanpakutō had a different agenda.

I ran at least fifty miles away and found myself, in the middle of a graveyard in the woods. I suddenly realized that I still carried the girl with me who apparently had been screaming the whole time, ironic use of the word. I let her go and hesitated whether or not to send her into Soul Society. Again I had doubts, at this point if Soul Society gets invaded, then her best chance of survival would be in the world of the living.

"I'm sorry, how long were you hangi-"

She kicked me really hard in the shins and I fell to the ground in pain.

"Why did you take me away? I have to save my family, they live there."

"Well I uhh, how was I supposed to know? Wait! If I hadn't saved you, you would have been a hollow about now!"

"What's a hollow?"

"It's a- never mind, the point is you're safe and that's all I can do about-"

"If I was safe, then why did you take me away from my family?"

"It's cause- gosh you're a pain in the ass, I just rescued you and now you're interrogating me like I'm some kind of a-"

There I saw it, she reminded me of someone I lost to a hollow; I chucked to myself and relaxed.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"What? Why? Are you some kind of pedophile?"

"Believe me, if I was a child molester, I wouldn't risk my neck to save a girl from being eaten by hollows just only to find out a name."

She chuckled and smiled. "You make a point there, I'm Aiko."

"And I'm Saidō, pleasure to meet you."

"Wait! You're not taking me back?"

"Oh please! Where you are is where most of my comrades want to be, you'll be safe."

"In the middle of a graveyard?"

Yes, I admit, it does seem very ironic.

"I have to go now, my friends are waiting for me."

I took off towards the battle, leaving the girl behind. I could almost hear her, saying either goodbye or some curse. I prefer to think of it as a goodbye, for it could be my last.


	4. Chapter 2: Hell is waiting for me

**Chapter 2**

After a couple of miles, Jikan realized what was going on and screamed in my head.  
_  
"Wait! What do you think you're doing? We can't go back! There is death waiting for us."_  
"So you have seen the future?"

_"No! But you're a dumbass! Remember when you tried to face a hollow with a butterknife?"_  
"That was only one time! It got the jump on me when I was having lunch. Plus I killed it with kido, didn't see you complaining."  
"That is because you left me beside a tree."  
"It doesn't matter, we are still going to fight."

_"Why are you being so arrogant! Do you think you have any possible chance of defeating Aizen and his army? Face it Saido, you're outnumbered and outclassed. There isn't any chance of victory for you. We should run while we have the chance."_  
"Why Jikan?"

I could imagine how my sword reacted.  
"Why are you acting like a coward? If you are anything like me, you must at least have some kind of dignity or pride. After all, it was with the help of Aizen that the arrancar army was born and that hollows became more powerful. He even killed some of our closest friends and you don't even have the slightest hint of a desire for vengeance?"

A silent minute passed. Hopefully my words were getting through to him, and I decided to add more for the right effect.

"After all, its better to die as a proud warrior than live as a coward."  
Jikan finally spoke _"What good is pride when everyone is dead?"_

That does it, I stopped in the middle of the forest and grasped my zanpakuto violently; it looked like I was choking it.  
"Then you must have seen the future! Tell me, will we win or will we lose? Answer me before I decide to make firewood out of your hilt!"  
_"No! I haven't seen the future! If I did! I would've told you long ago. You got to believe me!"_  
"I do, but-"  
A idea went through my head, I closed my eyes and relaxed for a moment; I started to breath deeply and concentrated. Jikan was startled by this and suddenly realized what was happening.  
_"What are you doing to me?"_  
"I am trying to concentrate and pour all of my spiritual energy into you."  
_"And then what would that solve?"_  
"I want to see this future for myself and if I have to pour all of my energy into you to see it for just a second, so be it!"  
Suddenly the environment around me began to change. I felt that I was making progress. However, Jikan began screaming into my head!  
_"Stop this! All you're going to do is make yourself pass out from releasing too much spiritual pressure! You're gaining nothing from this!"_  
"You're bluffing!" I told Jikan coldly.

My zanpakuto was speechless for a moment.  
_"And why would I do that?"_  
"It's because-."  
I sighed, and was honest to myself.

"I'm scared too." A moment passed. "Honestly, I don't want to go to battle either, Jikan, but if I'm right and we saved every soul here, then we will change everything!"

_"But what if you lose? Time is not a forgiving mistress."_

It took only a second to respond to that. "Well, we would have a better chance of survival at least."

Jikan agreed with me about that. Suddenly, I felt everything around me changing. The trees around me started to grow old and die in front of me. This was very unexpected. I tried to stop Jikan, but it was to no avail. I felt the blade drawing my power from me at an alarming rate. I couldn't even let go of Jikan; it felt like my hands were melded to him.

"What's happening? All I wanted was a freaking vision, not this! Stop this now Jikan!"  
His voice in my head was very weak and quivering.  
_"I can't stop Saido. I'm out of control. Its impossible to turn back now!"_

I paused. This was no time to panic. More of my energy was being devoured with every second that passed. Somehow I had to stop this before it was too late. I began to see that time itself was moving past me at a fast pace. The days began to look more like flashes from a camera. The whole thing was a beautiful spectacle and as time was moving on, it was almost impossible to tell what was really going on. I saw glimpses of fierce battles and beyond that was unknown. I finally came up with an idea to stop all of this. If this didn't work, Jikan and I would die in a matter of seconds. I poured all the remnants of my power into a single blast to fire into the already uncontrollable vortex of my spiritual pressure.

Jikan exploded in a fierce light and the environment around me came to a halt.

I breathed easily; my plan worked.

But where we were and what time period we were in was unknown. However, there wasn't anytime to think as my body was drained of energy and fell asleep.

* * *

By the way! Can you take some of your precious time and review please! It would make me all the more happy :)


	5. Chapter 3: Where am I

**Chapter 3**

**Day 1**  
From what I could remember, I passed out from releasing all of my spirit energy. I was surprised that Jikan didn't explode from the intensity. Now that I think about it, Jikan must have been in a coma or something because I couldn't get in touch with him or feel anything at all. It was the worst time to take a nap.  
From what I could gather, it seemed that I was somehow in the future, in the middle of debris of an abandoned city.

This was no doubt the most horrific sight I had ever witnessed: there were numerous decomposing corpses, both human and soul reaper, lying in the street, and the smell was almost enough to kill me. Fire still smoldered amongst the bodies and debris. It wasn't exactly obvious what happened. I fell down on my knees, trying to hold back the depression and sorrow, but it was too overwhelming. I contemplated whether or not should I commit suicide. Even though this was a convincing vision, I had to face the hard facts. We lost. Even if I awoke from this hell, Jikan was right, in the end I couldn't save anyone, much less myself.

I pressed the tip Jikan lightly against my throat when all of a sudden, a voice spoke out to me, in a single word.

"Wait."

The voice was a woman's, almost angelic, clearly not Jikan. It could have been my own delusions. Regardless, I began to walk, with this strange voice as my guide. I had to believe that someone must have used Tenteikura and was coming for me. I walked through the silent, dark streets.

As i thought about it, the voice was right in telling me to wait. I had many options: if I waited, I would regain my strength and awaken Jikan to get me out of this hallucination. Either that or I could use kido to try and locate any survivors. Anything was possible, after all. The grim scene was still all new to me. Any soul reaper would rather risk their lives in a suicidal battle than witness than be trapped in conditions such as these.

It occurred to me that neither the sun nor the moon was out; the sky was covered in dense clouds, which shined with a light that was simultaneously beautiful and dreary. I couldn't tell what time of day it was. After a couple of hours, I hid inside one of the crumbling buildings and prayed to find a spot where i could escape the smell of a charred bodies. I failed to find one, but collapsed again from exhaustion anyway. My attempts to communicate with Jikan didn't go well at all. Still silent. I began to consider the thought that I might have well killed it. It was ludicrous to even consider at first, but then again, I had pushed my zanpakuto way beyond its abilities. The power that he had made me kinda sad for him. After all, he already witnessed these events and never wanted to go back, and yet I forced him. I didn't blame him at all for not wanting to return to life in this hell.

**Day 2**

I got some rest, despite the smell. My headache was gone, but I felt hungry and had an achingly dry throat. It came to my mind that whatever this vision was, it was definitely a convincing one. I had to get the thought out of my head that this was all real and there was no return.

"Like I need another reason to kill myself," I thought. I began to meditate and concentrate on using whatever strength I had to conjure up Tenteikura.

The result would probably turn up nothing, since I hadn't sensed any spiritual pressure whatsoever since I got there. The worst case scenario was that hollows were hiding their spiritual pressure, and I was trapped there with them, but that was highly unlikely. As soon as I finished the incantation, I pushed the signal as far as I possibly could; even the birds could my piteous cries of help.

I repeated the message in my head several times.  
"Calling any and all remaining soul reapers. I'm Saido Eikichiro of the Stealth Force and I request your presence. This is not a trap. I repeat, this is not a trap. Please contact me as soon as possible."

After the 11th time, I realized that no matter how it was worded, it still sounded like an obvious trap. It would be a miracle if someone actually came looking for me, especially the mysterious voice.

Hours passed. I spent my time hiding inside the top floor of a building, observing the spot where I had sent my message from. No one came, of course. The sky had been transformed into a slightlydarker blue aura and I naturally assumed that it was night. I nearly fell asleep waiting. The thought that kept me from sleepiness was her voice. It is strange to assume that what kept me going on was merely a single word.

"Wait."  
So far, waiting still got me nowhere. "How will long will I wait to be find anybody: a couple of days? weeks? years? Either way, I completely fu-"

A noise passed. I moved silently toward the spot, with a carefully placed kido blocking my presence.

A moment later I saw someone emerge from a building across from me and head toward the spot.

I didn't detect any spiritual pressure, and part of me immediately felt that I was to be rescued.

Another part of me felt sure that I'd sealed my own destruction.


	6. Chapter 4: Friend or Foe

**Chapter 4**

The figure was tall and rather nondescript, since he wore a tattered soul reaper outfit with a hood to cover his face. He stood at the center of the spot where I laid down Tenteikura and looked around, assuming that I left. I silently approached him from behind. I didn't have many options; whoever this man was, if he was an enemy, I would have to take him out quickly. After all, he may have been a soul reaper, but that didn't mean he was incorruptible. I thought through many strategies in preparation for the worst case scenario. I wiggled my sword around, hoping to get a response; however, I felt no spirit pressure within Jikan. If this man turned out to be an enemy, I would have to use my abilities to defeat him. I surprised the stranger by lightly poking Jikan in the middle of his back.

"Stop there. Don't turn around. Tell me, who are you? Whose squad are you with? Answer me before I get a little bloodthirsty."  
The big man started to laugh, and I had no clue why. I stopped him laughing by lightly smacking the back of his head. This was so mysterious. Why couldn't I sense any spiritual pressure, even when he was right in front of me?

"Is this how you treat all of your rescuers, by bashing em in the head?"  
His voice was heavy and dark. Whoever this was, he would definitely be a handful.

"Shut up!" I hit him again, harder this time. Only in this time, his hood dropped down a bit and I saw a glimpse of white on the back of his head. It was a fragment of a hollow mask.

An Arrancar!

I didn't expect this. I kept cool, hoping he didn't notice that I'd noticed. This was my first encounter with an arrancar; I never knew that they could hide their spiritual pressure. My sword was still on him, but he would probably notice sooner or later that Jikan couldn't lay a scratch on him. Still I had it trained on him, hoping I could at least get some information.

"Listen buddy, give me what you know and then I'll let you go."  
"What? You don't want to be rescued?"

I saw what he was playing at, trying to get me to drop my guard.  
"How many are with you? Tell me, and I might let you live, Arrancar."

He realized that the jig was up, yet he didn't move himself away from my position. For some reason, I sensed that he was strangely pleased.  
"Ah I see, so there's no point in pretending."

He withdrew his hood, revealing his face. He had a dark skin tone, and half of his face was a hollow mask. He turned and faced me, with determination and self-confidence in his eyes. Truly, I made a mistake. There was no fear in his eyes. Then suddenly his eyes examined my body and noticed something with wonder.

"It's been a long time since I saw a shihacho as new as yours."  
I ignored him. "Now tell me, how many are with you. I have friends here too you know!" I yelled.

"No you don't," he answered coldly.  
"What?" I was shocked by his response.

"No soul reaper would dare come back here, especially after we kicked their asses last time."  
I see. So this Arrancar isn't as intelligent as I thought he was, which gives me something of an advantage.

"To answer your question, Soul Reaper, I'm just a scout sent to find you. I'm lucky to find you intact and all. Glad you weren't killed by some hollow."  
I didn't drop my guard. An arrancar's agenda is really quite simple: kill any and all soul reapers in the name of Lord Aizen.  
"Now I can play with you. All by myself." Then suddenly his hands started to glow crimson red.

I reacted quickly, instantly planting both of my feet into his head, performing a backflip, and finishing the move off with Shakkahō.

As I landed and looked toward the smoking crater, I sensed that my enemy wasn't dead. Far from it, He even let out a burst of laugh, mocking me. "So, this is going to take more than a few simple kidō to kill this bastard, I have to find some other way to at least slow him down," I thought to myself. He directed his hands toward my direction and began to fling crimson blasts rapidly. The energy blasts were incredibly fast. I dodged nearly all of them with my knowledge of flash step. Only a few shards managed to graze my left leg and a side of my ribcage, leaving small streaks of blood.  
It could have been a lot worse. I thought that these bursts of energy must be the Bala that I heard rumors about. Running down the street as fast as I could, I noticed that my enemy seemed to be overconfident, as he used this technique wildly. "I have to come up with something, I can't use flash step forever. Wait!"

I thought,  
"There is that 18-story building that had a garage inside, maybe I can use it to my advantage." Taking my chances, I descended into the car garage. It was dark and easy to hide, which suited me. I could see him walk inside. I tried my best to blend in with the shadows. However, there was one thing that I failed to consider. The Arrancar was using his balas as a weapon and it left a bright crimson glow, easily revealing my position.

"Damn. I might as well die here. At least it doesn't smell bad. Hold on a second..." An idea popped into my head. "It's crazy but it might-" Damn, he had found me. Dodging his balas shouldn't have been a huge problem; the thing was that he was getting more and more accurate. "If one of those hits me directly, it will kill me instantly." As I ran around the sides of the garage dodging his blasts, I hid behind the support pillars, but to no avail. The cover they provided me lasted for merely a second. As I said, balas were are fast and powerful, but they were not ceros. If they were, then there probably wouldn't be anything left of me. It wasn't until only one pillar remained, conveniently the last pillar supporting the entire structure. As I hid behind it and tried to catch my breath, I knew that my enemy was victorious. He tried to catch his breath as well, but his reasons were different from mine: he was laughing too hard.

"Very good, soul reaper, I haven't had this much fun in a long time. You really are pathetic." He ended with a maniacal laugh.  
I ignored him and concentrated on my breathing. I need to use all of my energy if this is going to work.  
I whispered softly. "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini. Look upon yourself with horror."

"Sadly, our time together has come to an end." His palms turned crimson red again.  
Just as he used a powerful bala against the supporting pillar, I instantly dodged it and ran with all of my strength towards the exit while finishing off my chant. Apparently the pillar barely held on to the structure, which gave me time to finish.

"AND THEN CLAW OUT YOUR OWN THROAT-"

I had just reached the exit when suddenly a huge pain shot through my body. The pain was intense, unlike anything that I had ever felt before. This pain came as my left leg was directly hit by a bala. As far as I could tell, half of my leg has been completely obliterated, replaced with a mind numbing pain. I managed to fall onto the concrete in front of the garage.

"You almost escaped me there soul reaper. When will you realize that I have won?" As he walked victoriously towards me, he smiled and straightened his arm towards me, preparing to fire a cero. "Any last words, Soul Reaper?"

Although the pain was intensely great, it was adrenaline that allowed me to finish me. I flipped my body over onto my back and with any strength I had, I directed my hand towards my enemy and gave my last words.

"BAKUDŌ NUMBER 9! GETI."

My kidō worked, paralyzing my enemy in a crimson aura that surrounded his entire body, leaving him unable to move and unable to finish off his cero.  
He laughed again for a moment, making me lose my rising confidence.

"What are you doing that for! You idiot! After your spiritual pressure runs out, you're going to-"

"Die?"

That stopped him in his tracks. He was curious to see what my plan was. I allowed a smirk to cross my face, regardless of the incredible pain I was feeling.  
"Look above you!"

As he looked, he realized my plan. The entire roof was caving in and he couldn't move. As debris began to fall on him, I could hear him screaming loudly as he struggled to break free of my kidō and flee from the place. But it was to no avail. As I slowly dragged myself away from the building, his screaming stopped as the whole building collapsed on him.

"Goodbye Arrancar."

I laid on top of my back, proud, knowing that even if I died, which seemed imminent, at least I took my enemy with me. As I lay and looked towards the cloudy sky, I felt kinda sad that Jikan wouldn't be here to celebrate with me. "Whats really a shame is that I'll never hear that angelic voice eve-"

"Wait! Please hang on!"

My eyes flashed open. This sounded new! The voice was telling me to hold on. "Well, sorry to disappoint you angel, but it's-"  
"Now what happened here?" I heard another mysterious voice say. But this was different. This second voice came from a man several feet away from me. I couldn't tell who the man was as my vision became blurry. But by his side was the most beautiful girl I had ever lain eyes on. "It's sad that I didn't get to know her," I thought as I passed out. Happy.

* * *

Please subscribe and review! It will make my day better!


	7. Chapter 5: Locked up

**Chapter 5**

I can't remember exactly what happened, only that I woke up alone in a jail cell. It was so dark that I could not see. To my surprise, most of my minor wounds were healed, but not completely. They still stung like hell everytime I moved, and my strength hadn't fully returned. My zanpakutō was missing, and worse yet, so was my leg.

As I placed my hands against the walls, I knew it wasn't seki seki, so my spiritual powers could work on it. Strangely enough, I couldn't sense anything outside of those jail walls.

Nothing. Nothing at all.

Maybe my captors abandoned me, or maybe they were taking a lunch break. Regardless, I had to get out of there, find Jikan, and escape this hellhole back to my own time period. Luckily, whoever caught me didn't think of sealing off my spiritual pressure. That was a mistake.

Even though it was incredibly painful, I managed to hop towards the door. I straightened out of my arm and used whatever strength I had to conjure up a hadō to blow the door open. It was pure luck that there were no guards outside the cell and, better yet, someone left Jikan near the door. As I picked it up, I noticed that Jikan still seemed to be asleep. Damn! "How long will you keep this up Jikan?" As much as I hated to dishonor Jikan, he would have to serve as a crutch until he awoke. Suddenly, a voice spoke to me, nearly scaring me out of my skin!

"What happened here?"

This shocking voice came from behind me, giving me a jolt. As I turned and face this new enemy, I noticed one thing,: he was a big, strong looking man, a human in fact. "This is weird," I thought. Normally humans can't see us soul reapers. So then how could he see me? He really was huge, maybe bigger than the arrancar I fought! I attempted a battle stance and gave him a warning.

"Hold it right there! Whoever you are! I'm a master of kidō! So move aside or there will be nothing left of you!"

However good my bluff sounded to me, this man obviously didn't care about the threats of a crippled, half-dead soul reaper.  
"Fine then!" I fired a weak version of Shō to render him unconscious. However, he took the blast without flinching.

"Whatever he is, this freak sure ain't normal!" I thought.  
"Please stop. You're still injured. If you move around a lot, those wounds will reopen."

I was too furious to even care. I focused all of my energy into a more powerful Kidō. At this point, I didn't care about the damage it would cause.

"Hadō 31! Shakkahō!"

With this, I fired an amazing blast of energy towards my opponent.

With a grunt, he quickly reacted. He stopped the blast effortlessly with his bare hand, crushing the force as easily as breaking an egg. I stopped in complete horror, shocked and appalled. I noticed that the man's arm now resembled a hollow's. Deep glowing crimson cracks went down his right arm and connected with his fingertips.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you, but I'm afraid you give me no other choice."  
I couldn't move. I was frozen in fear. There was no way I could escape this man. Before I could act, the man suddenly disappeared and the lights went dark as I fell to the floor.

"Wake up!".

It was the angelic voice! It called out to me and I regained consciousness to find myself strapped to a table, with a gigantic headache and worse, gagged with a blinding light in my face. A blurry figure that looked like a woman was looking over me with a needle in her hand. I began to struggle, but was easily restrained by her.

"Cut it out! You're making this harder for yourself!" She stuck the needle into my neck and immediately I knew why the gag was on. Whatever crap she gave me hurt like hell. After a few seconds, I calmed myself and she took off the gag. I noticed that this poorly dressed nurse looked beautiful and weirdly familiar. However, the feeling in my neck made me feel extremely cold towards her.

"What the hell did you give me!" I demanded.

"Poison." She answered with equal coldness.

"What? Poison? That is how I'm going to die, not in some epic battle or of old age, but in some hosp-"  
She burst out laughing. "I'm just kidding! It's a painkiller. You were knocked out for half a day. Can't blame him though, I mean you nearly destroyed his room."

"Who's room?" I asked, grateful that I couldn't feel the pain in my head and stump.  
"Yasutora Sado, but we call him Chad. Wait, I forgot to fully introduce myself. My name is Aiko Yoshida, and you must be Saidō."


	8. Chapter 6: Hell hath no Fury

**Chapter 6**

What? Aiko?

That little girl I saved back there in the world of the living?

It's hard to believe she turn into this... well, hot nurse," I thought to myself.

Before I could ask anything else, she hit me harder than i thought possible in my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. As I try to regain my breath, she whispered to me coldly.

"And this is for my parents. You rotten bastard."

As she reached for some kind of medical tool, a soul reaper rushed in through the doors. Thank God. Just in time! I'd hate to see what she would have done to me with a scalpel.

"What is the meaning of this?" Aiko asked indignantly.

"Apologies Ms. Yoshida, but I have just been informed that Lady Inoue has arrived. Your services are no longer required."

"Oh. Pity." She looked at me and said sarcastically "And I was starting to have so much fun."

That woman put the fear of God into me.

As soon Aiko left, another woman entered. Another human? Well, at least she didn't look anything like that behemoth I fought with earlier. She could best be described as having long flowing orange hair and huge... uhh nevermind.

She looked over me, examining my wounds, Jikan, and strangely, my outfit.

"Now this is new." She pondered.

"What do you mean?"

"Your outfit, I've not seen anything so new in years. What squad were you with?"

I had to come up with something; unfortunately, nothing came to mind. Somehow, she sensed my hesitation. She chuckled softly.

"Oh don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I'm just curious, you know?"

For some reason, I just couldn't lie to her. Maybe it was her cheerful charisma.

"I'm part of Squad Two, Lady Inoue."

She giggled again. "There's no need to be formal with me, just call me Orihime. So, does that make you part of the Stealth Force?"

"Yes ma- or I mean Orihime."

She examined my body again.

"These wounds. Were you attacked by a hollow?"

"No." There was a pause. "It was an Arrancar."

Orihime was startled at this. She seemed amazed that I was still alive. She moved down to my stump and started to remove the bandages.

"What are you doing?"

"Please be quiet, I'm trying to concentrate."

With that, she fully removed the bandage from my stump and whispered a few words to herself. Suddenly my entire body was engulfed in a orange light.  
It was soothing, and as I looked towards my wounds, they were being healed at an incredible rate.  
Unbelievable! Not even the highest level of kidō could heal wounds that quickly. "Whatever she is, she must be very special," I thought. Somehow my leg was regenerating as well, bone and all. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It looked new; no, better than new.  
After all was done, she left me to relax.

"You should rest now. I have other people to heal."  
She left before I could say thank you. I did what she said. I was unconscious for half a day. I didn't know anything about my strange captors, but still I was more than happy not to be a cripple. I made sure to remember to thank her after I woke up.

As I awoke, I noticed something different. I was abandoned, alone, in some abandoned city! What the hell happened?

Did those people just up and abandon me, or was this Aiko's revenge?

Either way, I didn't sense any spiritual pressure-

"Saidō! Whats going on? Where are we?"

It took me only a moment to realize that it was Jikan talking to me! Shocked as I was, I began beating him against the ground.

"What took you so long Jikan! I suffered hell because of you?"

"Because of me?" Jikan reacted angrily "I wasn't the one who got us stuck here in the first place! If it wasn't for me, you would be drifting through time forever!"

That was when I finally caved in. I fell to my knees. I truly knew despair.

"So, you can't get us out of here, can you Jikan?"

There was a long pause.

"There is a small chance, but I seriously doubt it."

That gave me hope. Now I'm anxious to know the answer.

"How?"

"We would have to achieve Bankai."

* * *

Please let me know if you enjoyed this or not!  
Please subscribe and review :)


	9. Chapter 7: How can I get out of here?

**Chapter 7**

**Day 5 **  
"Bankai? Are you serious? That would take years to achieve, and even longer to learn to control it properly. I don't even know where to begin."

"Well, for starters, why don't you call me by my full name?"

I laughed a bit at that.

"Now that would take even longer. Can't you just settle for 'Jikan'?" I said sarcastically.

"I'm serious Saidō! Why aren't you being serious?"

I laid back against a wall and tried to relax a little in this hellhole.

"Don't worry Jikan, we're not going anywhere and we have all the time in-"

"Wrong."

That scared me. I instantly jumped to my feet to face whoever it was this new voice had come from. It was strange; I didn't even sense any spiritual pressure.

Then I spotted him.

On top of a hill, there he was; a soul reaper by the looks of it. He wore a cloak which must have somehow hidden his spiritual pressure. He wore a hood that covered his face. Even though I didn't feel his presence, my instincts told me that he was most likely an enemy.

"Who are you?"

"It's doesn't matter."

Looking more and more like an enemy.

"I'm assuming you know why I'm here."

I noticed he was about to reach for his zanpakutō. Strike two.

"Yes, you're here to lend me a hand, ain't that right?" I said sarcastically, grasping the hilt of Jikan.

"Ah, we have a comedian here. Well that's too bad. I wish your friends were comedians too, then killing them

would have been a lot more funny." He ended it with a twisted grin.

I fell to my knees. From the way he spoke, I didn't think he was bluffing. Aiko, Orihime, Chad, everyone, dead.

I couldn't believe they were all killed by this mysterious stranger.

He will pay for this.

I rushed at him head on with flash step and drew out Jikan. I swung out full force against the soul reaper, but to no avail; he easily countered it with his own zanpakutō.

We both exchanged swing for swing, with his growing stronger with each strike. We locked swords for a few  
seconds, but he repelled me several yards with ease.

As I tried to catch my breath and prepare for the next strike, I realized that he was no doubt stronger than me in zanjutsu. He could probably even take on a captain of Soul Society. But it was possible that I might have the advantage when it came to Kidō.

I put several yards between us to get out of his range and quickly prepared a chant before he could respond. "Bakudō #61, Rikujōkōrō!" At first, the stranger was immediately paralyzed by my spirit energy.

However, his next reaction was not what expected. At first, it looked as if he was struggling out of my kido. I moved in for the kill. As I came towards him, I saw that his face seemed to lack any real concern. Puzzling.

When I got close enough, I raised Jikan high to strike, and there I saw it. He yawned and cracked his neck, taunting me!

It was a trick after all, now I'm too close to-

He planted his foot in my stomach with incredible force and sent me sailing into a building. As I coughed up blood, I realized that my opponent surpassed me in every respect.

"You give up?" he asked.

"Hell no..." I struggled to get up. "I can't afford to give up, especially after what you've done, you sick son of a bitch." More and more blood poured out of my mouth.

"Well, when you're done playing, attack me with all you got."  
I gave him my best defiant grin.

"Go to hell."

I surprised him by shooting off a shakkahō before he could react. The blast left a smoking crater.

"Did I kill him?"

Then, I noticed a figure in the smoke: "Its him! Dammit!" I jumped back.

"Pathetic!" I heard him growl. With a quick incantation and a flick of the wrist, yellow petals of light captured me, pinning me to the ground with intense pain.

My blast didn't even damage his cloak, much less him.

"I admit! You surprise me." He whispered another incantation. The yellow petals began to give off electric jolts that intensified the pain.

"If you don't fight me with your shikai, the death you'll have will be five times as painful as this."

The pain felt like a consuming fire that never stopped burning. In the end, I had to give in.

"F...fine..." I screamed in pain. "...I'll do it ...you sadistic bastard!"

The stranger then withdrew his kidō and let me go, leaving me gasping for air, trying to stay conscious.

"What is he?" I thought.

"Jikan, you ready for this?"

"Yes, Saidō, lets give him everything we've got."

With the last of my strength, I stood to my feet and held my stance. He wasn't impressed, looked more bored than anything else.

"NOW SHATTER! DOROBŌ NO JIKAN!"

As I released him, I looked at the man and noticed that he looked happy.

"About time. What took you so long to release your zanpakutō?"

"Shut up! It doesn't make a difference. He's released now, that's all that matters."

In truth, I could usually fight better if Jikan wasn't released; he was a bit heavier in his released form. The only  
difference between his released and unreleased states is the clear orb in the middle of his hilt.

At that moment, Jikan and I pooled all of our spirit energy together for one final attack. The stranger merely observed the show.

It was time to strike.

As I ran towards him using flash step, I saw a brief glimpse into the future, just a couple of seconds, and saw what was waiting to happen.

During my charge, he will use flash step and attack me from behind using senka.

However, now that I had seen his plan, I snapped back into reality. I continued my charge, but halfway through, I jumped back and and raised Jikan into the air, catching him by surprise.

"Take this! For all the people you killed! DIE!"  
I then brought Jikan down across the stranger's back, slicing skin and bone; his blood sprayed across my face.  
The man fell down to his knees. He turned his head towards me and spoke: "Impressive". He then fell down

on his face and disappeared into dark fragments.

"Hmm, a weird way to die, well at I- what!"

As I turned around, I saw that the man was still alive!

I raised Jikan-What? I can't... believe...it... Jikan broken...in half... by his zanpakutō...

My world faded to black.


	10. Chapter 8: The Nightmare realized!

**Chapter 8**

"Damn! What did I get myself into? Ever since I've been here, I've been alternately attacked, unconscious, maimed, and near to the point of death. How can it get any worse?" I thought in my fevered unconsciousness.

When I came to, I found myself in Chad's room; only now, there was no door. Confused as I was, I still decided to take my chance to explore. Jikan was with me. Apparently, he must have been healed sometime after the fight. Or maybe the whole thing was a dream; a nightmare really. Pondering this, I left Chad's room and discovered that my fight was no dream.

The man who attacked me was standing outside the room, with Aiko by his side.

"Hi, Saidō! Sleep well?" The man asked.

I instantly reached for my zanpakutō, but was stopped by Aiko.

"Saidō wait! He's one of us."

"What? The bastard almost killed me!"

"He did this for your-."

"Thanks Aiko, but I'll take it from here." The man stepped past her. "I'll give him a tour around the place. You do whatever you like."

"Well...uh..." As she looked at me with hate, I gathered that he knew that she was hellbent on getting her revenge on me.

"Thank you sir." She walked away.

"Now try to follow me, Saidō, and don't get lost. This is a big place."

I couldn't tell whether it was a warning or just friendly advice.

Regardless, I wanted to know everything about this place.

"Hey whats your-"

He started to run into the dimly lit catacombs. I did my best to keep up.

According to him, this was a shortcut to the main underground city. "He's full of crap," I thought as we spent many hours leaping off rock pillars and running endlessly along the sides of the smooth cavern walls. I could never catch my breath to ask even a single question.

We finally stopped near an underground waterfall for a short break, which I desperately needed. I was so hungry and thirsty I thought I would collapse. As I drank from the water, the man looked strangely at me.

"Whats the look for?" I asked.

"You do know you are drinking out of the sewage, don't you?"

I spewed out the water. WHY hadn't he told me earlier? He started to laugh manically. So this was some prank, the bastard. I hit him in the face; it was the least I could do to repay him for his helpfulness. He took it without retaliating; what a good sport.

As I rested on the rock, I thought about which question to ask first. What time period is it? What is this place? Wha-

"I'm guessing you want to know who I am," said the man.

"Yeah, for starters."

He looked toward me as he rested on another rock.

"Just call me Kagine, Kagine Miyato." He stretched out his hand towards mine. "Sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances."

I accepted his hand warily. Now that I could think clearly, I realized that he could have killed me whenever he wanted too.  
Now their was a question I wanted to ask.

"Why did you attack me?"

His head hung low; it seemed like he was hoping to avoid the issue.

"Um, I was testing you, to see how powerful you were and what powers your zanpakutō has. I lied to you because it was the only way to force you to reveal your full potential."

Well, that made sense, I supposed. Kind of a relief, really.

"You know, I actually thought you were going to kill me back there."

"I was. The only reason I didn't is because you surprised me with that last trick." So much for relief.

We started running again after that. As I thought about it, it seemed to keep getting easier.

"Maybe the reason why Kagine is so fast and powerful is because he must have been doing this for years," I thought.

After another couple of hours, we finally reached the city. It wasn't much of a city, really, more like a shantytown  
composed of rotting huts. It was then I realized why I didn't sense anyone earlier. The caverns that surround this place  
must be a source of seki seki.

It didn't hurt to ask.

"Hey Kagine, is the cave roof above us made of seki seki?"  
He seemed kinda glad I asked the question.

"No. Well, not entirely. The man who helped build this place lined the walls with a thin layer of seki seki. He did this so that this could be a haven for people with spiritual pressure if the need ever arose. One of his many secrets I guess."

"So who is the man who made this?"

"A soul reaper named Kisuke Urahara."

"I wonder, where is he?"

His head dropped down again.

"He's dead." Kagine said coldly. "Come, follow me."

I followed him into a dark and lonely cavern with a lake in it. In the middle of the lake stood a huge crystal which provided  
enough light to fill the entire cavern. It was gigantic, a huge pillar pointing straight up. As I looked in more closely, I noticed that there were names that covered the entire crystal.

"Wha What is this?"

"This is a memorial for people who died during 'The Holocausto de las Almas'."


	11. Chapter 9: The Memorial

**Chapter 9**

"The Holocausto de las Almas? What are you talking about?"

Kagine gave me a look of confusion mingled with just a bit of pity. I had to come up with some excuse for not knowing what was apparently something I definitely should have been aware of. I scratched my head, grinned and said, "Well, I guess you must of beaten my ass pretty hard, you know?"

However he didn't take it as a joke.

"I guess." He shrugged. "It's the ongoing war against **The Hollow Lord**."

Wrath? I'd never heard of him before. "When you say the Hollow Lord, you're referring to Aizen right? The Soul Reaper Captain that sided with the hollows?"

Kagine sighed at that. "No, its not Aizen. Far worse than him, actually."

My stomach knotted up at the mere thought of someone worse than Aizen. Impossible! How could there be anyone worse than him? He'd have to do something ridiculously atrocious, like burning orphans alive or something, to beat Aizen's standard of evil.

"So who is he?"

"No one knows for certain. Aizen claimed that he created him in secret, a new type of hollow, and he released him when  
the time was right. However, his creation betrayed him, then took control of the hollows and waged war on Soul Society."

"When did this happen?"

"About ten years ago, right after the Battle of Karakura town."

Ten years! I had missed ten years!

"Saidō, you okay?" Kagine asked.

Honestly, I wasn't, but I couldn't let my guard down and reveal the truth about myself.

"Oh, uh, sure! It's really quite a shock though. So, who died in the Holocausto de las Almas?"

He looked toward the crystal and motioned. "Read it for yourself."

I stared at the crystal and tried to read the markings, however they were too small and somehow distorted for me to  
make any sense of them.

"I'm sorry, but I can't read it."

Kagine, sensing my confusion, said, "Read it from the water. Its a mirror lake. The inscriptions are inverted."

Amazing! I see now, the sapphire light generated from the crystal glares across the water, making the inscriptions readable.

"Let me guess? It was also Kisuke that came up with this contraption too?"

Kagine nodded. "Yes. He discovered this place before creating the haven. During the Holocausto de las Almas, he was heavily injured in combat and he rested here. He spent day and night inscribing the names of his friends and other soul reapers who fought there, and the ones who died fighting in the war against Aizen. However..." His head hung low. "Other people took over his duties. And today, it remains the only monument of its kind."

Damn, so Soul Reapers died in that war too. I looked toward the giant crystal and then looked at the shore. I started reading from the bottom; it was just random soul reapers at first (hardly anyone I know), until I came down to a the last name in the row: Rukia Kuchiki.

Rukia? I remember her. Many months ago (many years, really) I was sent on a mission to capture her and return her to the Soul Society. That was when I fought that spiky haired kid that took her powers. Strange couple, really.

In the end, I let them go. Hmm, what a shame, she was really well known in Soul Society.

As I continued reading up, I was appalled at how many of my friends died in the war. It was depressing. Kagine read as well; I imagined that he must have come here often. When I came to the middle, there was a line separating the names below and above. I guess Kisuke separated each the officers from the lower ranks.

I realized that these must have been the lieutenants: Chōjirō Sasakibe, Nemu Kurotsuchi, Momo Hinamori, Isane Kotetsu, Marechiyo Ōmaeda, Shūhei Hisagi, and finally Rangiku Matsumoto. That's more than half of the lieutenants of Soul Society!  
I saw there was also a list of Captains! I didn't want to read it, but I had to force myself to do it.

From the left it was: Jūshirō Ukitake, Tōshirō Hitsugaya, Shunsui Kyōraku, Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto.

I threw up after reading that. It was bad enough that four Soul Reaper Captains died, but the Head Captain? Who else could lead Soul Society? There were five other names on that list, damn it! "That's nearly all of the captains,"

I thought. It was over. "Ichigo Kurosaki. Wait! That's the runt's name! I remember him, it was with that mission with Rukia, he was the guy that stole her powers. Why is he in the captain's list? Whatever." I continued on until I came to Isshin Kurosaki.

"I don't remember him; he sounds like he's related to Ichigo. Maybe he was promoted during the Holocausto de las Almas." The list continued on: Yoruichi Shihōin, Retso Unahana and finally, Kisuke Urahara.

Guess I'll never meet the man.

It took me a couple of silent moments to cope with the loss.

"Does Soul Society even exist anymore?"

"Yes, but there are few survivors. Last I heard, Byakuya Kuchiki is leading Gotei 13. So far, he proves to be an excellent leader."

"Damn it all to hell Kagine, do you think we're going to win this war?"

"Honestly, Saidō," Kagine shrugged, "No."


	12. Chapter 10: Hope

**Chapter 10**

Several silent minutes passed.

"Kagine." I closed my eyes and swallowed my pride. "I...I want you to train me."

He looked at me with curiosity.

"I'm no idiot, Kagine. I do know my own strengths and I have to admit... they aren't anywhere near your level. Please help me, to be stronger.

I may not know who you are or where you came from or why you even saved me, but at this point, you're the only one that I can trust to help me."

I dropped down on my knees with tears rolling down my face.

"I beg you Kagine! Help me get stronger! Strong enough to protect everyone from that evil... creature who not only destroyed Soul Society's defenses, but killed my friends and loved ones... I BEG YOU KAGINE!"

He gave me a knowing look; no doubt he had seen this before.

He rolled his eyes and closed them.

He gave in. "Fine, I'll do it."

I was instantly filled with gratitude.

"But do me a favor." He looked at me with a smile and scratched the back of his head.

"Cry somewhere else. You're embarrassing me."

I jumped up, embarrassed as well. I brushed off my face, attempting to look better.

Kagine turned his back against me.

"Follow me Saidō, I have something else I need to show you."

He then walked into another tunnel. It led into a another domed cavern. Unlike the previous small one, this looked more like a coliseum. There was a soul reaper training right in the center. As we came more closer, I noticed who this soul reaper was. It was Aiko, wielding what looked like a long black four pronged tuning fork, most likely her zanpakutō.

Standing several yards away from her, Kagine told me. "Well Saidō, this is Aiko, one of my finest students. She was a whole who came to me over

eight years ago. Her parents were first murdered by Aizen in the city of Karakura."

"That's rough," I said, starting to sweat.

"That's not even the half of it. To top it off, some idiot of a soul reaper took her away from family and abandoned her in the middle of a graveyard."

I blushed; I couldn't tell whether or not he knew that I was that idiot.

"This is what drove her to become a soul reaper: revenge on that same soul reaper who shattered her life."

It was then I understood Aiko, a little at least.

"She was also the one who found you."

"What? How? Through kidō, I'm guessing?"

"Um... something like that. Her zanpakutō's power is kidō based. It has the power to locate anyone's zanpakutō regardless of range, pinpoint their coordinates and even talk to em."

So the beautiful voice was hers.

"Wow! That's pretty impressive, too bad it's not useful for attac-"

"Scream Sonā!" Aiko yelled as she held her battle stance.

Swinging her zanpakutō over her head, she released a destructive sound wave that reducedm the a thirty foot boulder to rubble.

"Holy crap! She's that powerful?" I said to Kagine. I might be in trouble if she pulls that on me.

Kagine laughed, proud of his student.

"Yes she is; however, there is one drawback."

Aiko then sensed our presence and walked toward us, taking small plugs out of her ear.

"She has to wear thsose before she uses that attack." Kagine added.

She bowed her head before us.

"Greetings master! And.. you." She motioned. "Just finishing warm ups! Ready to start-"

"That's not necessary Aiko. I am no longer your master." He said.

She was overwhelmed by this. Her mouth couldn't form words.

Kagine looked down and scratched his head awkwardly.

"How should I put this. Um, Aiko, for many years you have been my loyal student, a wise leader, and a great friend. There isn't anyone else on this base whom I trust more than you. Unfortunately you're going to be replaced. I'm sorry."

"Wait! What! Kagine! Are you trying to get me killed! She already has enough reason to kill me already!" I thought.

She didn't take it very well either, instantly turning from a seemingly sweet, loving person into a stonecold psychopath.

She didn't have to be a detective to deduct who was her replacement.

"Why you little..!" She clobbered me in the face and nearly broke my nose. "First you take my family and now you take away my

reve-" She directed her shikai at me, however Kagine grabbed her hand.

"Aiko!" He told her seriously. "I'm sorry for what happened, I truly am, but I need you to pull it together and work this out. Its all in the past, so get over it."

Aiko finally relaxed and her grip on her zanpakutō weakened.

"You're right master." She turned towards me. "I am sorry, please forgive my previous actions, I-I must have mistaken you for someone else."

Kagine joined in with her with a strange look in his eye. "Isn't she right!... Saidō?"

It was really an excuse to avoid the troubling issue. But who am I to argue.

"Yes, I'll consider the attacks earlier a form of welcome."

"Glad to hear it, oh! by the way Aiko, you're still my student."

Me and Aiko joined together. "What! Then what was-"

Kagine began laughing. "I was kidding around! Come on! Laugh a little! You should have seen your face Saidō-"

I punched him in the face while Aiko hit him in the stomach. Now I see where she acquired her sense of humor. This marked my first day of training.

Rule number one: always expect the unexpected!


	13. Chapter 11: Impatient

**Chapter 11**

**Day 14**  
Nearly a week had passed, and it still felt like I had been there for years. Kagine's training was nothing like what I expected. It made the Soul Reaper Academy look like a terrible joke.

From my first training day with Kagine, almost all we ever did was spar non-stop; if it wasn't that, then it would be a "quick" detour through the catacombs for endurance.

He strangely never used kidō during any of our fights. I asked him about teaching me his advanced kidō; he replied that it would be too dangerous and that I would most likely be killed in the process.

Strangely enough, Aiko also helped me with my sparring when Kagine wanted a break.

She started to act nicely towards me, always wanting to be my best buddy. However, I believed this to be a ploy to make me drop my guard while she secretly planned to stab me in my sleep.

The process is exhausting. Anytime that I was allowed a break, Kagine would force me to meditate to build a better relationship with Jikan and boy, was that delightful. Hearing the endless complaints of an annoying zanpakutō about "Why am I released so often? Why can't I take a break?" and "Why haven't you made any moves on Aiko?"

"Wait. I just realized something. Why did they save me? I mean, they risked their lives to save mine even though I may be a lost cause for them," I thought. While in the middle of one of our regular battles, I crossed swords with Kagine and leaned my head in so he could hear me.

"Kagine, why did you save me?"

Kagine smiled, shocked that I would dare to question him during a fight.

"You're getting mighty cocky, Saidō!"

He then surprised me with a powerful kick that sent me rolling over the ground. Kagine then touched his sword to the edge of my  
throat, making him the victor.

"Why do you ask?" He shrugged and moved his zanpakutō closer.

"We saved you because we wanted too. That's one of the reasons at least."

"Then... tell me Kagine, who exactly are you and how do you have this power?"

"My, you sure are demanding with the questions today." He withdrew his sword. "But I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you. I was once part of the 13 Court Quard Squad, Third seat of Squad Six. I had orders to escort the remaining wholes to this area during the Holocausto de las Almas. It was here that I personally met Kisuke Urahara and." His head laid low for a moment. "Her."

"Her?" Could Kagine have lost someone dear to him during the war as well?

"That's enough storytelling for one day."

"What? You didn't finish your story!" I yelled.

"This aint your bedtime and I'm not your mother. Back to training!"

He withdrew his zanpakutō and took his battle stance.

Before I could get up, he decided to do something else and sheathed his zanpakutō.

"How bout I make you a deal? If you can beat me in hand to hand combat, I'll tell you everything I know. But if I win, you'll tell me everything you know."

This had gotten serious. I had never seen him use Hakuda before. Then again, he never saw mine, either.

"Fine then, it's a deal." I am very experienced with hand to hand combat.

I took my position and waited for him to make the first strike.

It was like a fast paced chess game, blended with gratuitous violence.

He lunged at me with a right hook, and I dodged the punch; it grazed me, but this provided me with a opportunity to counterattack. I grabbed his right arm, and attempted to use my left to break his elbow. However, Kagine reacted by swinging his right arm, and me, into a wall.

As soon I recovered, he disappeared, instantaneously moving behind me with flash step. Before I could react, he dislocated my right arm with a flick of his wrist.

"Damn!" It stung like hell, like fire ants gnawing through my arm. I struggled on the ground for a couple of moments, groaning in my pain.

"Ah, quit it you big baby." I heard him say.

He grabbed my right arm, planted his foot on my chest, and leaned, instantly jolting my arm back into its socket. The pain almost knocked me out.

"Well, I guess this makes me the winner."

"What? Oh no you don't! You were playing dirty."

"You tried to break my arm, but as soon as I simply dislocated your shoulder, you calling me a cheater! Pathetic."

He leaned in towards me.

"Now, I'm going to get answers from you! If you lie, I'll break your legs now-"

I thought "Damn! There's no way to get out of this! I simply can't lie to him!"

"Hey, Master!" It was Aiko's heavenly voice. "What're you doing?"

I looked up to spot her, standing on the outskirts of the dome.

Kagine smiled. "Interrogating Saidō. Want to give it a try?"

Dear God no! I couldn't think which was worse, getting interrogated for answers by Kagine or tortured for fun by Aiko.

"No thanks, that's okay. I'm just here to remind you the festival takes place in two weeks."

"Oh you're right, I'm supposed to help decorate right?"

"Yes, the whole cave, so if I were you, I would head up there, you have a lot to do."

Kagine then got up and left. I could not believe it; Aiko saved me. Was it mere coincidence? Or did she have her own agenda? After he  
left, she offered me her hand.

"I'm sorry about that! My master can be very impatient when he's very happy."


	14. Chapter 12: The Angel and I

**Chapter 12**

Walking with Aiko proved to be surprisingly nice.

She lead me into one of the tunnels used for transportation; there was a stream running down the tunnel. It was hard to start up a conversation with her; I mean, what could I say? "Hey Aiko, sorry I lead to your parents to their grave, nice weather isn't it?"

The only topic I could come up in my head was:

"So what exactly is this festival?"

"It's the tenth year anniversary of Aizen's defeat."

Huh, the thought had never occurred to me that Aizen was truly gone. Aizen, beaten and humiliated by his own creation, defeated. I liked the feeling, but it still didn't alleviate the anxiety I had about the mysterious Hollow Lord.

"It's foolishness, I know." She winked at me. "Seeing that we still have this war with the hollows, the festival is actually meant to help with morale."

She sighed happily.

"It reminds us of the old days. The days when you could just relax on your porch, never worrying about an ambush from arrancar, or even back in the human world when the word hollow didn't mean a bloodthirsty demon. I miss those days."

I joined in with her.

"I wouldn't really know anything about that life. I think I was born in Soul Society."

"You think?"

"Yeah, in a poor district called Rukongai."

She seemed curious.

"It is a terrible place; our problems there were almost tougher than the ones here."

She chuckled. "Have you seen our world recently?"

"Okay fine you got me there! To be fair, there were worse things than hollows where I lived."

"Do tell."

Thinking about it brought back terrible memories.

"There were pitiful hollows, cruel gangsters, and the occasional psychopath."

"Aiko." My eyes connected with her and finally I admitted. "I'm sorry about your parents, I never meant to do that to you."

She looked down with tears in her eyes and brushed them off.

"It's fine," she said as she looked away.

Definitely not the violent reaction I expected.

"To be honest, I never blamed you Saidō. I blame myself for not being strong enough to save them."

Aiko then looked at me.

"The only thing I regret is the time I never spent with them when I was still alive. Tell me, Saidō, Have you ever had family?"

This conversation already went really deep, so why lie?

"No, not really. The only leads I had to my parents were rumors." I smirked. "Hell, one of the rumors was that a man with a white shikisho left me on the porch of an old lady and disappeared."

"Do you really think one of the captains was your father?"

I laughed for a second.

"Well that was the idea my friends and neighbors had. It was meant to cheer me up, but..."

I held back tears.

"It did quite the opposite."

"Why? It's probably wasn't true."

"What difference does it make whether its true or not? My parents abandoned me as a baby.. to the hollows and psychopaths of Rukongai! By rights, I should be dead."

"Then what saved you?"

Hm, it was one of the good things of Rukongai.

"An old woman who lived there raised me, along with her granddaughter who was about my age."

Remembering them always brought me happiness.

"They were my family, they cared for me like I was one of their own. Their names were Haku and Suzuka."

"They sound like really nice people. What happened to them?"

I wished she'd never asked that! I still remember feeling her cold blood on my hands.

"She- Haku passed away peacefully and Suzuka-" I held back that depression- "was eaten by a hollow."

Aiko stopped. She immediately apologized and tried to take back what she said, but was too late.

"She was the reason why I became a soul reaper, to make sure that it never happens to anyone ever again!"

A silent minute passed. There was nothing else to say. It was Aiko that finally broke the silence.

"You know, Saidō, you set yourself up with an impossible goal."

"I saved you, didn't I?"

The serious mood broke and we found ourselves laughing at each other.

"That's what I like about you Saidō! You're just like me."

"What do you mean?"

"We're both alike and all alone."

That gave me a thought I had never considered before: Aiko was right.

We are all alone.

After that, we continued our walk down the tunnel, telling stories of our pasts, the good times we had and the bad.

It was the start of a beautiful friendship.


	15. Chapter 13: The Festival cometh!

**Chapter 13**

**Day 28 **  
My days fell into a routine: sword fighting with Kagine and occasionally Aiko as well, spending "quality" time with Jikan, and running through the catacombs. I had only lived there for a month and yet it felt like I had been there all my life.

I spent some time exploring "Soul Sanctuary". It was amazing, like an underground city. In the main district huts were stacked one upon another, forming a massive shantytown similar to the districts of Soul Society.

Across the cavern, there was another division of living quarters built into the cave wall. They were first designed by Urahara to hold prisoners, but were eventually converted into living quarters for the people who had high reiatsu like Chad, Kagine, Aiko, and myself.

Orihime did not live with us in Soul Sanctuary; her visit was short, as she had to return to Soul Society to heal the injured on the front lines.

Chad spent a good deal of time replacing the door that I broke. The door was something he himself carved from stone and destroying it was like hitting him below the belt. This time, he made sure to line it with seki seki.

Kagine, thank God, quit trying to interrogate me; it was really Aiko who "persuaded" him to lay off.

Most of the people who lived here were wholes that lived around Karakura. The reason why they are still here is because Kagine, who was watching Karakura at the time, refused to send them into Soul Society. He had the same idea I had, that Soul Society would not be safe from Aizen, and sadly, we were both right.

About nine years ago, the hollows and arrancar successfully invaded Soul Society. Since most of its defenses had been taken out in the Battle of Fake Karakura Town, a massacre ensued. It was a miracle that Byakuya took charge and lead most of the people to safety. However, back in the world of the living, Hollows and Arrancars did as they pleased and murdered anyone they came into contact with, including soul reapers.

The entire incident reduced words like "disaster" and "chaos" to utter meaninglessness. There were no words for how terrifying the universe had become with this shift in the cosmic balance.

It wasn't the Soul Reaper's fault; most of them weren't able to beat arrancars and those who did were eventually killed by Aizen, or later, the Hollow Lord. The only thing that saved Kagine and his people from them was Kisuke's haven hid their spirit energy. But even so, there were occasions when hollows accidentally stumbled upon the cave.

For the past few years, they had lived in a state of fragile prosperity. However, if the Hollow Lord discovered the haven, not even Kagine and Aiko could protect them, for they, Chad and I, and three others, were he Soul Sanctuary's only defense.

But today was special! The festival to celebrate the life they once had. Very depressing really; most of them don't really realize how terrible the war has gotten.

The festival started with an enormous feast; everyone could eat and drink to their hearts content. The games followed. They weren't really my thing, so took my opportunity to head outside.

The entrance at the base of the mountain was very clever. The hollows wouldn't think of searching for people inside a mountain when they had cities to devour at their leisure.

I sat down on a rock and tried to spot the moon; however, it was too cloudy to see.

"You're looking in the wrong place," a dark voice said.

I was unarmed at the time and panicked, thinking that it was a hollow. As I turned, I saw Aiko hiding behind a rock, laughing at me.

"You look like a frightend little child!" she laughed

"Shut up!" I scuffed. "You just surprised me, okay!"

"I know!" As she continued to laugh maniacally. "Thats what makes it so funny!"

"Ha ha. So all jokes aside, what do you mean I'm looking in the wrong place?"

"You're looking straight up. The place you should be looking is in the southwest."

Sure enough she was right. Hidden by many layers of clouds, I saw a faint glow.

She poured me a cup of sake to share with me. I thought it would be fun to joke around.

"Aren't you a little young to be drinking."

She hit me in the stomach really hard, and then blushed.

"Oh shut up, Saidō! I could take back my sake anytime I want."

"So I'm guessing you're here to watch the moon right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I can't stand the carnival. It was where I died."

"So you weren't killed by a hollow."

"No, it happened many years ago. I had a argument with my parents when they wouldn't let me go to the carnival with my friends. I was angry, so I snuck out. The carnival was fun, but we got in a car accident on the way home."

A tear rolled down her cheek.

"It was only afterwards that I realized just how much my parents loved me. They mourned for me for many years while the people i thought were my friends simply moved on."

Her story made me realize how long she had been lonely and how much she loved them. Even though I saved her from being eaten by hollows, she would have rather been eaten before she would abandon her family. I wondered who my family was and why they abandoned me.

For the next couple of hours, we enjoyed both each others company and the sake.

"We should go back inside. It's almost time for the fireworks."

Just as we entered the cavern, a beautiful explosion of fireworks surrounded us. Fireworks of every kind were being set off from various parts of the cavern. No wonder it took Kagine so long to get them set up.

"You know about the legend of fireworks: if you make a wish, then it would come true."

"Oh really! In that case, I wish that I would get kissed by a beautiful woman."

"Well then, its your lucky day." Aiko said.

Her lips touched my cheek! It was the closest thing I had felt to heaven. I wished I asked for more than a kiss.

"Thank you Saidō. For rescuing me."

And then she left. For those remaining moments I spent up there, I wondered why she kissed me.

It was probably the sake... or was it possible..?

Could she could have fallen in love with me? Or maybe it was I that had first fallen in love with her.

One thing for sure was that tonight was a good night.

The other was that the line I used had to be the stupidest line I had ever come up with.

Oh well, I could blame it on the sake.


	16. Chapter 14: Off to Hollow Land

**Chapter 14**

**Day 37**  
It seemed that I had been improving: when sparring with Kagine, he hardly had to hold back any longer.

My relationship with Jikan had also gotten better; I became much more adept at fighting with him in his released state. Beyond that, my speed had increased as well; I was able to pull off several flash steps at a time. With the growth of my other skills, I no longer had to rely so heavily on my use of kidō. Running through the catacombs was just as easy as breathing. "I guess I'll have to thank him for training me," I thought, even though it wasn't over yet.

What happened between me and Aiko on the night of the festival remained confused. Every time I mentioned the incident to her, she claimed that she was drunk. Damn! I was still stuck in the friend category; well, better to be a friend than a target of vengeance. When I asked Kagine if I should pursue a relationship with Aiko, he laughed so hard that he couldn't walk for five minutes.

Today was different, not like every other day. This time we didn't start off sparring, nor did we run through the catacombs; Kagine merely insisted that I follow him. He lead me, with Aiko by my side, through the front entrance of the mountain. He handed me a blindfold.

"Um, Kagine, what do you want me-"

"Put it on, Grasshopper!"

"Grasshopper? What the hell did he just call me?" I thought indignantly.

It didn't matter, I did as he said. He then took my hand and pointed it in a western direction.

"Do you know where I'm pointing to?"

"Uh, isn't that the abandoned city of Karakura?"

"Precisely! I want you to walk down there, wearing this blindfold."

Was this a joke? If so it wasn't funny; it was a day's walk to Karakura.

"What do you want me to do when I get there?"

Hopefully the joke will hit the punchline.

"I want you to touch any building and come back."

Ok, so he wasn't joking. He should recall that the city is major hollow territory. Going there would be one of the closest things to suicide I could do.

Unable to go back, I walked forward.

"Hopefully after I take a couple of steps he will tell me I passed!" Unfortunately no words came.

"Crap! This is going to be a pain in the ass..."

"Hey! I almost forgot!" Kagine yelled.

"Don't take the blindfold off in any situation! If you do..." He turned gravely serious. "You failed the test and bad things will happen."

How exasperating. "God! What is up with him? He's basically sending me to my death. Screw him. Wait! I think I found a loophole: he didn't say I couldn't peek."

I lifted a tiny opening in the bandana so I could at least see where I'm walking.

"Wait? Holy cra-"

As Saidō fell off a short cliff, Kagine and Aiko stood in front of the entrance, marveling at his clumsiness. They soon began laughing after Saidō was out of earshot.

"So, Master, what is this test supposed to prove? Or is it just one of your childish pranks?"

Kagine looked at his student with a humble smile.

"This test is actually meant to keep Saidō on his toes. Anything could happen while walking blind."

"Uh, Master? If you were going to temporary blind him, shouldn't you have used kidō instead? It's obvious that he's going to peek."

"That's not the point I'm trying to make Aiko. This will help build confidence in both himself and his zanpakutō. If he actually had any common sense, he would take the blindfold off."

He crossed his arms and watched as Saidō made his way down the mountain, tripping over himself every five seconds. He allowed himself to laugh.

"Plus, this is very entertaining."

Kagine noticed Aiko's worrying.

"Don't worry about the hollows. The ones in the city are really small fries. What's the worst that can happen?"

Meanwhile in Hueco Mundo.

Deep in the abandoned desert lay an enormous palace, once proudly ruled by Lord Aizen. Abandoned for a time, the Hollow Lord decided to take his place there as he reigned over Hueco Mundo. Temporarily of course; if it wasn't for the fact that this base had been dignified by the traitors of Soul Society and their army, this place would still be a ruin of pillars in the desert. Even so, the thought of such an inadequate and meager palace holding his greatness was be a joke.

Most of the hollows within the dimension had left, to raid both Soul Society and the World of the Living. They were commanded by the Hollow Lord and his subordinates, the Seven Sins. There are five of them left.

The Hollow Lord languished on his throne, bored out of his mind, surrounded by his many servants. Although they were arrancars, to him, they were merely leftovers from Aizen.

Even knowing his opinion of them, they still revere him as their leader and god. Sad really, but what choice do they have?

One of his servants rushed into the throneroom.

"My Lord, I have urgent news. Our scouts spotted a soul reaper in the world of the living, near the Karakura district; it appears the be the same one that Sentaro lost to."

Hmm, a Soul Reaper. It wasn't surprising that Soul Reapers were still hiding in the world of the living. They were either cowards or brave opponents. It didn't matter, they would all die before him just the same.

"I'll take care of it."

This shocked everyone in the room.

"But.. my King! We can easily bring this one back to you."

"When you want something done, you have to do it yourself, isn't that what they use to say?"

Sentaro emerged from the crowd.

"Please, my liege, allow me to bring this one back to you."

"Ah yes, I almost forgot, Sentaro, thank you for reminding me of your failure."

Before anyone could react, the Hollow Lord seized him by his throat and began choke him mercilessly.

"May I remind you what happened the last time I sent you on a mission to capture that same soul reaper?"

One of his servants came forward, pulled out his right eye and crushed it for everyone to see. The aura it left replayed the fight between Sentaro and Saidō. Sentaro, realizing this, pleaded for forgiveness. Unfortunately for him, the Hollow Lord wasn't in the mood for mercy.

"There are two things I don't tolerate: overconfidence, and weakness." His grip became tighter. "You're cocky and arrogant. There isn't any reason I should-"

A dark idea popped into his head. He chuckled for a moment and released Sentaro from his grasp.

"You may still be of use to me, Sentaro. Fail me again, you'll be begging to die by the soul reapers, am I clear?"

"Yes sir, crystal-"

His powerful backhand sent Sentaro flying into the air, nearly breaking his jaw.

"Didn't I say I hate cockiness?"

The Hollow Lord was intrigued. Even if the soul reaper there didn't have a shred of information, at least he might put up a fight. His sword was getting rusty.

Besides that, there were other reasons that this soul reaper concerned him.


	17. Chapter 15: Almost there

**Chapter 15**

"Damn that Kagine!"

It was hard enough to get past that stupid mountain, and now the pavement of the city was roasting me. Of all the days, the sun was shining brightly through the clouds.

I peeked from under my blindfold occasionally; it might be called cheating, but at that point, I didn't give a damn anyway.

One of the buildings was in my view; after I touched it, it would probably take me even longer to get back home.

"Home. Did I just consider this place home? Maybe its Stockholm Syndrome."

"_It probably is_."

"Oh shut up Jikan, the place here is not that bad."

"_Not that bad? Have you gone insane? You are living inside a cave! You're taking orders from a crazy stranger who just basically sent you to Hollow Land wearing a blindfold. Not to mention that its freezing in that cave. Have you given any thought to what it will be like when winter comes_?

"Hmm, true, I hadn't thought about winter."

"_Stop joking around! We need to go back "home" as soon as possible. I hate to see what will happen when the Hollow Lord finds out about Soul Sanctuary._"

"He won't," I assured him.

"_Why not?_"

"He'll have to kill me before that happens."

Jikan was silenced for a moment, comprehending that we might die here.

"Let's just move."

Walking toward the building, I noticed that Jikan was incredibly worried. Couldn't blame him, I was in the same boat. I thought of a way to cheer him up.

"What else do you hate about this place Jikan?"

"_I hate those damn Arrancar! So sneaky and cocky, always seem to stab you in the-_"

"Hello there, Soul Reaper!"

The dark voice came from right behind me. I instantly unsheathed Jikan and repelled the sneak attack. Kagine's training taught me that move.

"_See what I mean_!" yelled Jikan.

"Impressive, that reaction. No wonder you managed to beat Sentaro. You're far too powerful for him."

I saw that my opponent was an arrancar, wearing a decorated bull's skull as a mask. It was easy to tell that he wasn't anything like that arrancar from before. His eyes were pitch black instead of white, and his irises were glowing yellow. His reiatsu at the moment seemed to match Kagine's.

"Thanks for the compliment. Now who are you and who is this Sentaro?"

The arrancar started to laugh.

"Sentaro was the one you dropped a building on."

"Oh, him! Great, so he's alive. I bet he can't wait for a rematch," I thought to myself.

"Our time is short..." He said in a voice that sounded as old and dark as night itself. "...and I have no patience. Come at me."

"And if I refuse?"

"You won't."

He then roared so loudly that I thought my ear drums were going to burst. Behind me emerged several Hollows, including Arrancars and Gillians.

In the middle was Sentaro, who looked like he was itching for a fight.

"Don't interfere! This is my fight alone." The mysterious Arrancar said.

Then they all backed away, including Sentaro. "Whoever this guy is, he must have a lot of power," I said to Jikan.

"Now let's fight!" He leapt at me with incredible speed.

"Well you heard the geezer Jikan! Let's kick his ass!"

He and I crossed swords; I barely managed to hold him.

With a burst of adrenaline, I repelled him into a building.

As I waited, I was secretly pleading with Jikan. "Come on Jikan, let me have another vision."

"_No_."

"What? Why?"

"_It's far too dangerous!_"

"You already gave me a vision when fighting with Kagine the first time."

"_I was foolish at the time! I now know the __price__._"

"The price? What the hell are you talkin-"

The ground began to shake. The arrancar emerged from the building without a scratch.

"Amazing! I never knew you were this strong."

His hand started to glow crimson.

"He's going to fire a cero!"

I leaped back, trying to avoid him. I ran inside the dark building, hoping that it was vacant.

"Jikan. It very likely that we'll die here. I mean, the arrancar hasn't released his zanpakutō yet, and if it's true about what they say, he might be twice as powerful when he does."

"_So? What do you want me to do about it?_"

I heard a voice outside screaming a name. He must have released his zanpakutō!

"Just give me a freakin' vision!"

"_Don't you have any self confidence Saidō_?"

For once, my zanpakutō shocked me. I had never heard it talk this seriously before.

"_You never used me when you fought hollows in the past! Even when you dealt with Sentaro I didn't help you. So why do you want to use me in every single fight! There are some battles that you can win by yourself_."

I saw the point Jikan was making.

"I've become too dependent on him, after all its not the sword tha- Oh crap!"

I realized what the arrancar was planning. I jumped out of a window in the nick of time.

The entire building was engulfed in a crimson blast.

I looked up to see the arrancar in its true form.

He looked a hell of a lot bigger: his body was nearly three times his original size. Spikes grew around his shoulders and horns around his mask. No wonder the building was destroyed, since his hands were almost the size of my body.

"Damn! Look what you made me do". The arrancar said, laughing.


	18. Chapter 16: The Hell I'm facing

**Chapter 16**

I tried to avoid the Arrancar as best I could until I could come up with a plan.

Nothing came to mind as I leaped from one building to the next.

His ceros instantly annihilated the rooftops, leaving me nowhere to hide.

"Making me release my true form, you have be very special indeed. But no matter how special you are, you'll never be able to defeat me!"

"We'll see about that!" I yelled. I jumped into the middle of the street.

"_What are you doing Saidō? You're going to get killed_!"

"If I am Jikan, then it definitely won't be in the air. I have to fight him on the ground."

Sure enough, he accepted my challenge and appeared on the opposite side of the street.

"Let's go Partner!" I raced toward the Arrancar.

Still the Arrancar preferred to use his brute strength rather than his zanpakutō.

I jumped and raised Jikan high, hopefully giving him the impression that I'd attack him head on.

The Arrancar then used sonido to dodge, just as I planned!

I swung Jikan behind me and caught the Arrancar by surprise.

I would have cleaved his arm off, but I underestimated the strength of his hierro.

He countered with a powerful backhand that sent me flying through the air.

I was unable to react as he quickly sonidod his way to the top of a building, and then flew down into me from above, slamming me into the ground.

Blood filled my mouth.

My eyesight was fading. I wasn't going to last too much longer. The fight would soon be over, I reached to grab Jikan off the ground- his foot went into my stomach, lifting me into the air and into a building.

It was over!

I was losing my consciousness and my opponent was far stronger than me. Kidō wouldn't help me and there was no way I could escape. His last blow tore me open, leaving a trail of blood behind me.

"I guess it is the end," I thought.

The only thing I could do is struggle until the very end... the world suddenly faded to black.

**10 years earlier.**

There was ash still floating in the sky. It was heavy, hanging amongst the smell of death. It was the only thing Hirako Shinji could smell, it was all he could see.

Sitting up in the middle of the rubble, the Vizard clutched his shoulder, looking at his palm, blood staining his hand. Shaking, he cursed, looking up into the sky, the usual blue burnt and scarred red. His eyes faded in and out, his vision blurry, his blonde hair falling down over his eyes as he breathed in deep, grasping his wounds.

"Damn it…" he thought to himself, sweat running down his cheek as he shuddered. "…these wounds of mine, they would have killed any ordinary Shinigami."

He clenched his hand into a fist before slamming it down onto the stones in front of him, looking around the area. Standing to his feet, the Vizard attempted to brush himself down, choking up more blood as it splattered onto the ground in front of him. Swaying back and forwards, Hirako sighed heavily, taking a small step forward.

"What the hell happened here…? How did we get into this? The battles I watched, helpless on the ground…" shaking, he looked around, noticing his zanpakuto on the ground some way away.

There was blood on the once shining blade and he recognised it as the blood of his greatest foe.

"…again…again…defeated by that bastard…!"

Shinji cursed under his breath, an image of Aizen flashing into his mind, the man's cruel leer on his face, mocking Shinji as always. Slouching back on a rock, Hirako spat blood again before reaching for his face, summoning his mask with his last ounce of strength. He could feel its power flowing slowly into him and it rejuvenated him at an alarming rate, his wounds healing.

Two hours passed and Shinji was ready to fight again, flexing his fingers around the hilt of his zanpakuto. However, looking around, he shook his head, the shadowy figures of the other captains lay on the ground, releasing no spiritual pressure at all. It was already clear to him they were dead.

"Isn't there anyone left…?" he thought, looking around. Urahara and Yoruichi were spread out across the area, but there was a tiny bit of reiatsu drifting from their defeated bodies. Yet, he couldn't feel anything from anyone else.

"We weren't allies…not at all…but ya know, I can't help but despair at their deaths…maybe that's all I'm feelin' now…" he thought to himself, sighing. "…maybe it's cause they were our friends once…".

"Yo, Shinji…" came a voice from behind him, Hirako turning slowly, raising an eyebrow. Kensei was the one speaking to him, Mashiro carrying him over her shoulders.

The white haired man was drenched in blood and Mashiro had a strange look on her face. It was sad…almost…something completely new.

Shinji's eyes widened at the sight and he stepped over to them.

"You're alive!" Shinji exclaimed, smiling weakly, Kensei scoffing as Mashiro struggled to hold him up on her back.

"What happened to you?" Hirako asked, Kensei's lip curling up into a snarl as he coughed violently.

"The damn retard kid pulled somethin' crazy out of his ass. I was fighting him with my Bankai, I landed a few hits, next thing I know, there's fire and crap in the sky and my Bankai disintegrates. I didn't even have time to summon my Hollow mask." he muttered, turning to face Shinji again.

Underneath him, Mashiro squirmed, covering her mouth with her hand, making a flamboyant wave with her hand.

"Eeew…what's that horrid stench!" She squealed.

"It's cause of him…" Shinji muttered, gesturing towards the smoking crater, the remains of the captain commander incarcerated in a burning plume of smoke. Kensei sighed, wiping some blood from his chin with a weak motion, the smoke thick in the air around them, the stench of death rising.

"Damn bastard nearly killed all of us." Kensei spat, Shinji looking over to him.

"Who are you talking about?" he wondered, a crashing noise being heard behind him, Hirako turning round to see Love, Rose, Lisa and Hachi stepping down onto the rubble, their clothes tattered and torn, ripped and burnt, Love rubbing the back of his head.

"He's talkin' about Yamamoto." the man grumbled, Shinji smiling meekly at the sight of them.

"I see you're still alive." he said simply, Aikawa punching his chest heartily.

"Did you expect anything else?" he smirked, grinning proudly. Sighing, his smile dropped and he looked over to the smoking crater, lowering his eyes.

"Unlike some…" his eyes moved away, falling slowly on another spot.

Shinji swallowed hard, unable to turn around to face what the man was looking at.

Behind him was the torso of Hiyori.

The girl had stopped breathing a long time ago, aid unable to reach her.

Tears began to swell in Hirako's eyes, the Vizard turning slowly to her and reaching down.

Her blood was sticky on his fingers and he gripped her body tightly in his arms.

"Her blood…it's already cold…Hiyori…" he whispered, choking on his tears as he leant into her.

Away from them, Mashiro piped up behind Hachi, the large man turning to her slowly.

"Wait…" she said daintily. "…I'm confused, what happened?" She wondered, a finger to her lips.

Resting Hiyori's remains on a long, tablet like rock, Shinji stood to his feet, looking back at the green haired girl, his eyes dark and lonesome.

"Let's just say that Yamamoto went out with a bang." Shinji said grimly, neither honorific, nor respect coming to mind as he spoke about his fallen comrades.

"Aizen and Gin…those bastards got away." he hissed, clenching his fist tight.

"So what do we do now…Shinji?" Rose asked, raising an eyebrow to the man.

Suddenly, beside them, Captain Retsu Unohana appeared, her white haori billowing out behind her as she touched down delicately onto the rocks, the Vizard's eyes widening in shock as she looked up to them, a solemn look on her face.

"You're a bit late to the party. Care to explain?" Shinji scowled, the woman closing her eyes in response.

"Don't worry. I've seen the devastation." she said simply. "I arrived with Kurosaki Ichigo and, while I may not have experienced what you did, I can assure you Hirako-san, I feel for you."

"That the sort of thing a high ranking captain like yourself should be saying to a criminal like me?" Shinji said bitterly, Unohana staying silent. Finally, she turned and walked away from him, looking down at the crater and then over to Hiyori.

"So much death. I never would have thought Aizen's plan would have come to this." she whispered, the sadness underlying her voice.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light behind her and she turned, a Senkai gate appearing in the sky, its wooden doors sliding apart, revealing a shimmering passageway.

The Vizards all stood in front of it, their backs to Unohana as they went through the doorway, leaving finally only Shinji behind.

"I don't regret trying to fight him. Nor do I regret siding with ya for this round…" as he spoke, his reiatsu began to flare out around him, churning up the ground beside him as he stood, chunks of rock and stone being thrown aside. He looked up at Retsu with sad eyes, dropping them upon Hiyori again before turning back to the doorway.

"…if yer are lucky, maybe ya can save some of them…" He whispered before stepping into the doorway, the Senkaimon closing shut tight behind him before disappearing into the cloudy sky.

**The Present.**

The Hollow Lord walked victoriously towards the Soul Reaper. Sadly, the dying warrior wasn't in any condition to provide information.

"Hmm... spill his guts." A cruel and ironic metaphor. What really mattered was that the soul reaper had given him a really good time, even though the fight was cut short by his demise.

The Soul Reaper lay there, in a pool of his own blood. Pity. He was still struggling and had a very low spiritual pressure that would last a few minutes at the most. The last vision the Soul Reaper would see would be the face of his enemy, gloating in victory. He stood over the Soul Reaper and with two of his fingers prepared the finishing move.

"Any last words, Soul Reaper?" he asked as he started to laugh maniacally, happy that he hasn't lost his touch.

The man was still struggling to move and he was too injured to even speak.

"Pity, be proud that you met your end by the Hollo-"

Slash!

He looked down: his arm was cut off!

Impossible!

His head turned to see the assailant!

It was him!

The same soul reaper! But how? He's still right-

"Hi pal! Miss me?"

"No- IMPOSS-"

His head was cleaved into by Saidō.

I whistled at my victory!

"That was a close one Jikan, thanks for the help... oh, right."

"What the hell was with that vision?" I blacked out for a second and.. hell whatever, I grabbed Jikan and spoke.

"Play! Doboro no Jikan!"

It was a new technique that Jikan and I developed while fighting with Kagine. I began the technique as soon as it looked like I was going to die on the ground. Jikan used his power to create a loop of me going through the motions of struggling to get up, over and over. Before the Arrancar could figure it out, I moved to hide in a hole in the roof above him, and took the advantage to cut him down.

However, I was still injured, and it was close to impossible that I could still make it to Soul Sanctuary alive.

My worst fears were realized as I looked outside; Hollows, Menos Grandes, and Arrancars, all ready to face me.

"Dammit! There's no way for me to beat them all!"

"GETSUGA TENSHO!"

Instantly my enemies were engulfed in bright blue light! It left nothing but a huge crater in its wake.

What power!

It came from a man who descended behind me. He literally came out of nowhere. He wore a tattered soul reaper uniform and had spiky orange hair.

"Hey! You okay? You look like you've taken a real beating." The stranger said.

He looked familiar. "His name is a the tip of my-"

He stretched out his hand with a smile.

"My name is Ichigo, Ichigo Kurosaki."

* * *

Special thanks goes out to Tommo2304 for his help with the 10 year earlier scene


	19. Chapter 17: A dead Acquaintance

**Chapter 17**

"Ichigo Kurosaki? That kid I fought with years ago? How did he get so powerful? He's clearly at the level of a cap- wait? Ain't he supposed to be dead?" I thought.

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Uhh... Yeah. Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

He gave me a puzzled look. "What? Me, dead? Are you kidding! I'm obviously alive, aren't I? I just saved your ass."

Maybe it was possible the memorial had a typo.

"Then tell me, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question. I mean, you do know this is hollow territory, right?"

"Well.. it's a long story." I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell him; he was supposed to be on my side after all.

I put on a bold face.

"I was sent here to touch a building."

I stretched out my bandana. "Blindfolded."

Right then he started to laugh wildly. I could tell he hadn't laughed for a long time. He then noticed the dead body of that arrancar. For a minute, he stood in absolute silence, shocked!

"You- You killed the Hollow Lord!"

What! The Hollow Lord! The demon that caused this whole war! Him? He punched me in the face.

"Damn you, whoever you are!" He walked off angry. It seemed that he had wanted to be the one who killed him.

Still, I was excited! I was the one who ended this whole fiasco! There were still the Deadly Sins (the lesser hollow lords) to deal with, but hey, I killed their leader!

"That has to be something. I mean, I just avenged thousands of lives, maybe millions! Who knows?"

I ran up to Ichigo to apologize.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to rob you of your revenge."

"It's all right, its just, I wanted to be the hero this time you know. Bastard killed too many of my friends."

I then remembered why it was he fought hollows in the first place: his mother was killed by a hollow, a really ugly one, if I remember right.

"There is still the Sins to deal with, you know?"

He began to laugh. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll have to settle for those guys." He rubbed his head. "Oh I forgot."

He stretched out his hand. "What's your name?"

"So Ichigo doesn't remember me then. It's been more than ten years, so I can't blame him."

I introduced myself to him.

"So Saidō! Where are you off too? Is there some safe place I'm not aware of?"

"Yeah, its called the Soul Sanctuary. I'm heading there now. Care to accompany me? I'm still pretty weak from that last battle."

"Eh... sure. Its not like I have anything to do. You just killed my reason for living." He joked, but I still detected a note of seriousness in his voice.

And so we went, me leaning on his shoulder for support. After a while, walking became a chore as my wounds took their toll on my body.

"It sucks that Ichigo has no skill in healing kidō! I'm about to lose conscious-" He threw me over his shoulder before I fell.

"Don't die on me, jackass! We're almos- uh, hey Saidō, where is it?"

"Hey, he remembers my name... good memory..." I thought hazily. I weakly lifted my hand and pointed towards the mountain.

"Umm, it's a pretty big mountain."

"Yeah I know. The entrance is well hidden."

"Ok then, what are we waiting for?"

Ichigo then began toting me up the mountain. I tried to talk to him to stay awake.

"So where'd you come from Ichigo?"

He stopped and his face turned somber.

"I've lived here ten years, fighting hollows relentlessly, ever since that damn war started."

He looked me in the eye.

"You must be thinking that I'm fighting for a dying cause. Don't you?"

I tipped my head; he may be powerful, but we had already lost too much. Even if we won this war, our world was nearly destroyed. There is no way to start new, unless...

"You're right Ichigo! It's not worthless! I can turn this whole thing around!"

He looked at me like I was a lunatic.

"What do you have in mind Saidō?"

I had to tell him. We were about to reach the entrance. I had enough strength to walk.

"My zanpakutō allows me to go back in time! Maybe if I can go back, I can stop whatever caused this war!"

It took him a moment to register, for some reason, he believed me.

"You mean, kill the Hollow Lord. Again."

"Yeah, it wouldn't be too hard." I laughed. "I did it before."

He smiled diabolically the instant I said that.

"Saidō. You-"

"SCREAM! BENEHIME!"


	20. Chapter 18: The Horror!

**Chapter 18**

Instantly a powerful wave of crimson energy separated me from Ichigo; he took the damage from the blast.

His left arm was covered with blood. I looked to see who fired the blast...

It was Kagine!

He leaped into the air, raising his sword high, ready to release another strike.

I jumped in front of him, hoping he would back off.

"What the hell are you doing Kagine! Can't you see he's my friend?"

"Friend? What the hell are you talking about! He's the Hollow Lord!"

No! Then doesn't that mean...

I looked behind me to find Ichigo standing calmly with a killer look in his eyes, his arm completely healed.

"My, my, it's certainly been a while, hasn't it, Kisuke?" Ichigo said in a dark voice.

Kisuke?

"What the hell is he talking about, Kagine?"

Kagine cursed and put his hand in front of his face.

"I hope you dodge this, Saidō! HADO 32! OKASEN!"

Kagine instantly fired an incredible beam of yellow light. Quickly dodging the blast, I was knocked back several feet into the air; the ground below me was almost engulfed in-

Suddenly, pure darkness instantly blighted out the light of Kagine's kidō and consumed him, resulting in a powerful explosion.

"NO! KAGINE!"

Amidst the destruction, Kagine somehow survived! Streaks of blood ran down his body; his zanpakutō must have blocked it, but not entirely.

"I take it that was your cero. Pretty impressive. Never seen a black cero before." Kagine said with a grin.

What! A cero! But how?

I now noticed that Ichigo wasn't the same. Deep dark lines outlined his face and his skin was pale; his eyes resembled those of a Hollow.

"What is he?" I thought, stunned.

"You catch on fast. That's what I get when I'm facing my old creat-."

"What are you doing here?" Kagine said bluntly.

"What? I can't just stop by and visit old friends?" He said sarcastically.

"We're not old friends. The Ichigo I knew died many years ago." He pointed his sword at him. "You're a shadow of him." His spirit energy started to glow violently. "Nothing more."

"Oh. Pity."

With a twitch of his fingers, a Garganta opened behind Ichigo.

"It appears time has caught up to me; hopefully our next meeting will be more pleasant."

"Yes, let us hope." Kagine said as his eyes flared with hate.

Ichigo left the scene.

Even though I was there, I couldn't comprehend what just happened.

Kagine then walked clumsily towards me.

"Kagine! What was-"

Despite his injuries, he grabbed me by the throat, slammed me into the ground, and started to choke me slowly.

"Why did you bring him here?" He said coldly.

I tried my best to form words.

"How... was I... supposed... to know...".

His grip became harder and his gaze more fierce.

"You fool! Haven't you realized that you've just given everyone here a death sentence?"

He could barely contain his anger. "I should kill you now!"

"Then.. go ahead... and do it! Kisuke!"

He was taken back by that comment, but he still didn't release his grip.

"Why didn't you tell me... your real name? And why didn't you tell me... who the Hollow Lord really was! AND WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME... YOU CREATED HIM!"

"Why didn't you tell me about your zanpakutō and it's power to travel through time?"

That stopped me. He knew! Since when? He shrugged and released his grip.

It felt good to breath again, but my feeling of relief ended shortly as Aiko came from behind me and smacked me on the back of my head with her zanpakutō. I lost consciousness yet again.


	21. Chapter 19: Simple deduction really

**Chapter 19**

**Day 40  
**  
When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was Orihime standing right beside me; all of my wounds were completely healed.

"Thank you Orihime, sorry for the trouble of bringing you here on such short notice." Kagine- err, Kisuke said, as he stood by her side.

"Oh! Its no big deal! Really."

She chuckled a little, but then turned serious.

"Aiko told me... about Ichigo. Did he-?"

"That was not the same Ichigo we all know and loved. The thing I saw was nothing but a monster."

"Are... are you going to kill him?"

He closed his eyes.

"Yes. I have no choice. Its what the whole Ichigo would have wanted. However, it won't be easy. Yoruichi knew that better than anyone."

Orihime placed her hand on him, comforting him.

"I know how much it hurts; we all do."

Kisuke chuckled a bit.

"Hey, that's my line."

He kindly brushed her hand off.

"Anyway, it happened years ago."

With that, Orihime said goodbye to Kisuke. After she left, Kisuke looked over me.

"You awake Saidō?"

"Yeah.. why did Aiko hit me?"

"Who wouldn't? You just lead the enemy right to our doorstep. I think she might have even held back a little; she didn't want to kill you."

I didn't blame her; I would have done the same. Thinking back, I wished I died in that desert instead of bringing death down on the rest of humanity.

I had a question in mind.

"Kisuke, how did you know about my power?"

He looked down on me and turned his back.

"I've known from the very beginning; it explained a lot of things."

"When we first found you, you were nearly dead and your zanpakutō was dying."

Wait? Jikan was dying?

"It took me a couple of moments to ponder this, but considering the newness of your shihacho and bizarre traces of strange spirit energy, there was no  
doubt in my mind that it had to do with time traveling."

Before I could raise a finger, he continued.

"As you know, there has never been a zanpakutō, in all of recorded history, with the power to influence time. That's what makes you special. Your zanpakutō, Jikan, initially worked by revealing the future in the form of visions. This I gathered from our first encounter. I take it time travel is a secondary power. You probably can't control any of these techniques, this being the reason why you're still here."

Amazing! He must have done a lot of research.

"Which finally begs the question: are you attempting to learn Bankai in a attempt to augment your powers?"

"Well, there isn't any reason to lie anymore; he pretty much figured everything out," I thought to myself.

"Uh.." I took a deep breathe. "You're right. All I wanted to do was to get back to my own time."

He smiled. "That's the answer I was hoping for. Maybe there is still hope after all. Quickly! We don't have the time to waste."

"Wait? What are you talking about? You haven't told me why!"

He was gone.

I sat up in the bed, good as new. I followed Kisuke and he lead me to the Memorial Cavern. He went over to the gigantic crystal and pressed the crystal with his bare hand. The whole structure then opened up. It shocked me! I wondered what was inside.

He reached in the center and pulled out a tiny orb.

The orb began to shine with a faint but beautiful light as Kisuke wielded it.

"What is that Kisuke?"

He held it up for me to see.

"This, my friend, is the Shitsubō no ōbu."


	22. Chapter 20: Hope encased in a Weapon

**Chapter 20**

"Shitsubō no ōbu (Orb of Dismay)? I've never heard of that before."

"Of course you haven't; the only ones who know about this are a few others and myself. More importantly, the Hollow Lord doesn't know about it either."

"Just what is it, exactly? Somehow it's giving me a bad feeling."

Kisuke eyed it as he told me a story.

"You see, a long time ago I created a device that could break down the boundaries between Soul Reaper and Hollow. The device was called the Hōgyoku, and it was one of the reasons why I and several others were exiled from the Soul Society. This..." He motioned the orb, "is the prototype. Not nearly as powerful, but it will do."

I stepped back as he began to move it towards me. That little thing strangely made me feel... different. I could feel my strength growing exponentially just being in its presence.

At the same time, a sickening feeling began to grow in my heart.

"Wait a sec? What are you planning to do to me with that thing?"

"You see, unlike the Hōgyoku, this also has the power to amplify spirit energy. It's one of a kind."

"In that case, why don't you use it instead?"

He shrugged.

"The materials used to create the Hōgyoku and the Shitsubō no ōbu became almost impossible to find long ago. And as I said before, it's not that powerful; it will only amplify your powers to a level close to mine. It's completely useless to me and to other people of my level."

He encased it in a heart shaped medallion that seemed to block its power and handed it to me.

"Wear this; it is the most important gift anyone could ever give to you."

I tried to refuse; I was beginning to feel more powerful, but that sickening feeling began to grow worse and worse.

"You don't understand." He looked at me with a menacing look.

"Your acceptance of this gift is not optional."

I took it out of his hands and put it around my neck, unwilling to risk Kisuke's wrath.

"Um... thanks, I guess? So what now? This still doesn't solve anything. I have this horrible feeling..."

"I know. Deal with it."

He walked into another tunnel, motioning for me to follow yet again.

I pondered why the medallion was heart shaped and how it blocked the orb's power. Kisuke sensed my question before I could ask it.

"That medallion actually belongs to Aiko. It was her most cherished possession; she received it from her parents. She wanted you to have it."

I looked marveled at the pendant around my neck; this was her last connection to her parents.

"It must be priceless to her. Why didn't she give it to me herself?"

"She is still mad about the crap you pulled, leading the Hollow Lord here. Feel any different?"

"Hmm, no, now that you mentioned it."

He chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, one of the problems I had with it to. Never worked the way I wanted it too."

We entered the battle stadium; this didn't make sense. "Why did he bring me-"

He brought out a flat, humanoid doll.

"Now thrust your sword into that doll!"

Hearing this sounded kinda silly.

"Why the hell would I want to stab a toy?"

"This toy is going to help you reach Bankai in three days!"

Bankai? In three days? That seemed impossible.

"How?"

Kisuke scoffed.

"Do you always have to ask me questions! Just shut up and do it!"

"Ugh! Whatever!" I did what he said. I thrust Jikan into the doll and suddenly-

Nothing happened. The doll disappeared and no one moved a muscle. It was quiet... maybe too-

The room! Everything around me changed! I wasn't engulfed in light!

Only... nothingness.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PART 2


End file.
